Snows Of Kilimanjaro Analysis

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In Ernest Hemingway’s and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s respective compositions, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and The Great Gatsby, characters express superficiality and corruption. Materialism, superficiality, and individuals’ moral and psychological corruption characterized the Roaring 20s. The decade also presented the modern society with numerous inventions including the automobile, railroad, and radio. A formerly propitious author, Harry, destroyed his career after leaving Paris for the pursuit of wealth. Harry reflects on his inability to write additional works and recognizes his defeat and loss, as he dies of gangrene. Jay Gatsby, a newly wealthy businessman who moved to West Egg as means of working in the bond business and reuniting with …show more content…
Harry’s references to the plains and Mount Kilimanjaro contrast each other significantly. Focusing on the African plains and Mount Kilimanjaro reinforces Harry’s awareness of his imminent death. A hyena slowly approaches Harry’s cot, until it crouches on Harry’s chest using all of its weight. As Harry feels the weight of the hyena on his chest to the extent that he cannot breathe, Harry imagines that Compton came with a plane to rescue him. As the men ascend, Harry sees the bright, square top of Mount Kilimanjaro. (Hemingway 25-26). The journey towards Mount Kilimanjaro indicates a favorable event in Harry’s life, in contrast to the numerous negative occurrences he witnessed during his lifetime. Good incidents occurred in the mountains; bad occurrences took place on the plains. The African plains were a final attempt to help Harry become more diligent and honest. Instead, Harry’s career as an author dwindled, and his health deteriorated. Mount Kilimanjaro symbolized goodness and purity, while the African plains represented evil and uncertainty. As Harry suffers from gangrene, he remains in the mellow plains, characterized as “A pleasant camp under big trees against a hill, with good water, and close by, a nearly dry water hole where sand grouse flighted in the mornings” (4), exemplifying irony. The meticulous imagery of the safari specifies the tranquility of the plains, compared to Harry dying and remaining stranded in it. Hemingway loved Africa’s natural beauty and used it as a backdrop to the destruction of life in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (Contemporary Literary Criticism 234). The plains and Mount Kilimanjaro both play influential roles in the plot of “The Snows of
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